QUEEN REPORTEDLY FAULTS STRIKE CHIEF

Queen Elizabeth II, traditionally aloof from politics, became unwittingly embroiled in Britain's coal strike Thursday when she reportedly blamed the 11- month-old walkout on the Marxist leader of the miners union.

"It's all down to one man, isn't it?" Independent Television News quoted the queen as confiding to The Times newspaper's Labor Editor Paul Routledge during a tour of the paper to mark its 200th anniversary.

The Times, however, issued a statement saying the queen discussed Routledge's work with him but never said the miners strike was promoted by union leader Arthur Scargill.

Buckingham Palace refused comment on the report.

The queen toured the newspaper as National Union of Miners leaders met at their headquarters in Sheffield, in northern England, to consider the impasse and demoralized miners returned to work in record numbers for the fourth day.

In the House of Commons, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher urged miners continuing to observe the strike to return to work "to rebuild an industry which their own leadership has shattered."

The miners union called the strike -- the longest labor dispute in modern British history -- last March 12 to protest National Coal Board plans to close 20 unprofitable pits with the possible loss of 20,000 jobs.

The coal board said a record 1,018 miners returned to their jobs Thursday, including 539 in the militant Yorkshire area.

More than 7,600 men have abandoned the strike since Monday after mediation attempts by other labor groups broke down.

The coal board said the number of miners who returned to work Wednesday brought the total back on the job to more than 50 percent of the 186,000- strong workforce.